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Modern Philology
VOLUME XII April I9l5 NUMBER
IO
who appears fartheron in the story. Later the hound chases a hare,
which,runningup to O'Cronogan and crying,"Sanctuary!" takes
refugein the hunter's bosom and immediatelybecomes a lovely
young woman. The maiden conducts O'Cronogan into a fairy-
mound,promiseshim anythinghe may desire,becomes his mistress,
and next day accompanies him home. O'Cronogan, on reaching
his native town, "saw theregreat houses and halls, and this was to
him a source of wonder,"forthe place had recentlybeen burnedby
Brian Boru, the king of Ireland, because of O'Cronogan's refusal
to pay tribute. For three years the fairy woman remains with
O'Cronogan, and thereis prosperitywithinhis gates, but on being
insulted by Cian, her husband's overlord,she disappears.
The AislingeOengusso(Vision of Oengus),' which,thoughfound
in no manuscriptearlier than the fifteenthor sixteenthcentury,
certainlyantedates the twelfth century,2tells how Oengus mac
ind 6Oc is approached one night in his sleep4 by the most beauti-
ful fairywoman in Ireland. Aftervisitingher lover fora year, the
lady, for no apparent reason, disappears. Oengus suffersgreatly
fromlove-sickness,but aftera long search findshis sweetheartin
the formof a swan at a lake, where he also is transformedinto a
swan, and the two are reunited.
An episode very much to our purpose occurs in the well-known
collection of Welsh romantic tales known as the Mabinogion.5
Though the exact age of the Mabinogionis still a matterof dispute,
I Ed. R.C., III, 347 ff.
2 It is mentioned in the Book of Leinster (ca. 1150) among the remscdla,or preliminary
tales, to the great Irish epic of the Tdin B6 Cdalnge. The list of remscla occurs in a
passage which may go back to the ninth century. Cf. Zimmer, Kuhn's Zt., XXVIII
(1887), 438; cf. p. 434, and Windisch, Ir. T., Extrab'd., pp. liii ff.
3 Usually regarded as a supernatural being (D'Arbois, Le Cycle myth. irlandais,
Paris, 1884, pp. 269, 274; Nutt, Voyage of Bran, I, 212).
4 For other visits of fairy beings to sleeping mortals, see Ir. T., II, 2, p. 198; cf.
Ir. T., III, 2, pp. 473, 489. Compare the following episode in Spenser's Faerie Queene
(I, ix, 12-15): Arthur, after hunting all day, falls asleep at the foot of a tree. It seems
to him that a beautiful maiden appears, gives him her love, and tells him that she is
the Queen of Fairies. On awakening, he finds "nought but pressed gras where she had
lyen." Cf. Miss Paton, Fairy Mythology,p. 29, n. 1. For other ladies loved in dreams,
see The Seven Sages of Rome, ed. Killis Campbell (Albion Series), Ginn & Co., 1907,
Tale XIV (p. 110); cf. Introd., pp. cx f. See furtherthe Alsatian folk-tale recorded in
Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, XIX (1906), 243.
5 Text of the Mabinogion, etc., ed. Rhys and Evans, Oxford, 1887, p. 11; The White
Book Mabinogion, ed. J. G. Evans, Pwllheli, 1907, p. 9; cf. Loth, Les Mabinogion, I,
Paris, 1913, pp. 96ff.
598
CELTIC ELEMENTS IN "LANVAL" AND "GRAELENT" 15
with love, he seizes the most beautiful and carries her home. She yields to his caresses,
but remains mute forthree days. On the fourth day she exclaims, " Hail, my dearest! "
and tells her lover that he will be happy and prosperous until he reproaches her with the
place where she was found or "concerning anything of the sort." The lover promises
to avoid the forbidden subject, but of course breaks his word and loses his wife. He
dies of grief.
It will be recalled that in the Tochmarc l tdine (one of our earliest cases) the king
has Etain seized before he addresses her and that in the shorter Fled Bricrend an already
captive maiden appeals to her future lover for help. In the undoubtedly pre-twelfth-
century Aided Echach mheic Mhaireda (S.G., II, 265 ff.), a mermaid is represented as
being caught in a net. For another version of the story, see Martyrologyof Oengus, ed.
Stokes (Hy. Bradshaw Soc., XXIX), p. 53.
The frequency with which the timorous fee, helpless in the hands of her mortal
captor, turns up in Irish, Scottish, and Welsh fairy-mistressstories taken down from
popular sources in recent years can hardly be explained satisfactorily except on the
hypothesis that she has long been indigenous to Celtic soil. A familiar Irish tradition
tells how the Earl of Desmond found the lake-f6e Aine combing her hair at the water's
edge and by stealing her cloak won her love (R. C.. IV [1879-80], 186 ff.). For other
examples see Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, Boston, 1906, p. 38; Kennedy,
Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts, pp. 121 f.; Folk-Lore, XXI, 341; Y Cymmrodor,
IV, 187, 188, 192; V, 93, 118 f., 120 f.; J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands
and Islands of Scotland, p. 201. See further,below, p. 34, n. 2.
Professor Nitze calls my attention to the fact that in the French Epic, which many
consider Germanic in origin, woman often takes the initiative in love-making. In this
connection he refers me to Raoul de Cambrai, vss. 5,696 ff.; Nitze, Mod. Philol., IX,
315 ff.; Hartland, Primitive Paternity,pp. 306 ff.
1 Cf. Nutt's remarks, Pop. Studies in Mythology,Romance and Folklore, London,
1899, p. 26. An apparent reflection of this type, probably colored more or less by
Christian prejudice, is found in modern Celtic folk-tales in which amorous f6es carry off
men against their will. Cf. Celtic Mag., IX (1884), 208 f.; Y Cymmrodor,V, 100.
2 The signs of confusion indicated above (p. 33, n. 2) as occurring in early Celtic
literature are even more marked in modern Celtic versions of the Offended F6e. The
following tale is translated by Sir John Rhys from the Welsh of Glasynys (Owen Wyn
Jones) (Y Cymmrodor,V, 86 ff.). A poor fisherman "makes the acquaintance of" a
mermaid in a cave on the seacoast. At first the water-woman screeches wildly, but
soon becomes calm enough to warn her captor against her brother and make an ap-
pointment with him for the next day. She then departs, but later appears dressed "like
a lady," and tells him that though she is a king's daughter, she has "come to live among
the inhabitants of the land." She has "a cap of wonderful workmanship," which,
618
CELTIC ELEMENTS IN "LANVAL" AND "GRAELENT" 35
It is obvious that in both Graelentand Guingamorthe garments
by which the fountainladies set such store are rationalizedfeather-
skins,' and are derived ultimatelyfromstoriesof animal marriages.
To peoples in the animisticor totemisticstages of culture unions
instead of preserving carefully as her only means of returning to her native element,
she stupidly presents to her lover with the ridiculous injunction that he shall always
keep it out of her sight. The two are now married. After several years of wedded
felicity, the wife, on finding that her real character has been discovered by one of
her children, dives into the sea, carrying her husband with her. The cap, without
which she ought to be powerless to return to the Other World, has dropped out of
the story.
In another Welsh tale, current in the neighborhood of Bedd Gelert and said to have
variants in many parts of Wales, a youth captures a fairy woman, but the lady agrees
to marry him only on condition that he discover her name. This he succeeds in doing,
but before the f6e will become his wife, she imposes the furthercondition that he shall
never touch her with iron. Long she remains with him, and his affairsprosper greatly,
but when at length he accidentally touches her with an iron bit, she disappears (Y Cym-
mrodor,V, 59 ff.; cf. D. E. Jenkins, Bedd Gelert,Portmadoc, 1899, pp. 161 ff.; Y Cymmrodor
IV, 180 ff.). According to a literary version of the same story, the f6e,instead of show-
ing fear at her lover's approach, exclaims, "Idol of my hopes, thou hast come at last!"
The prohibition against touching the wife with iron is here imposed by the father, an
indication that the lady, instead of being free,is hampered by paternal control (Y Cymm-
rodor,V, 63 if.). Cf. Y Cymmrodor,IV, 180, 188, 191, 201, 208. According to a variant,
which seems to have come from the vicinity of Llanberis, a lake f6e, on being seized by a
farmer, screams lustily, whereupon her father appears and imposes a somewhat similar
condition before he will allow the wedding to take place (Y Cymmrodor,V, 94 if.). See
furtherthe Carmarthenshire story told by Hartland, Sci. of Fairy Tales, pp. 275 f.
A Breton folk-tale taken down in 1873 and recorded by Luzel (Contes pop. de Basse
Bretagne,II, 349 ff.), tells how a shepherd boy sees at a pond three white swans which
have the power of transformingthemselves into beautiful girls. By his grandmother's
advice he steals the swan-garment of the youngest and most attractive. As in Graelent,
the maiden alternately prays and scolds, but the youth holds on to her covering until
she promises to transport him to her palace beyond the sea. On arriving in fairyland,
the shepherd becomes the fee's lover.
In an Irish popular story translated by George Dottin (Contes et Lggendesd'Irlande,
pp. 7 if.), a boy, while sitting on the shore, sees three swans approach him across the
ocean. The birds eat the bread-crumbs which he offersthem, but when he attempts
to catch them, they elude his grasp. Drawn by an irresistible impulse, the youth fol-
lows them across the ocean, paddling himself on a plank. He at last reaches a
beautiful palace under the sea, where he finds three fair ladies. He later returns to
earth, but pines away and dies of longing for the swan-women. This story suggests the
well-known Carmarthenshire tradition copied by RhSs (Y Cymmrodor,IV. 164 if,) from
Rees's The Physicians of Myddvai (Welsh MS Soc.), Llandovery, 1861: a youth wins the
love of a water-f6e by a gift of bread, but loses his mistress by breaking her command.
Cf. Laistner, Das Rdtsel der Sphinx, I, 189.
1 As early as 1837 F. Wolf, reviewing Michel's edition of Dbsire, regarded the line
"Sanz guimple esteit chevel(e, " applied to the attendant at the fountain, as an indica-
tion of her original swan-maiden character. "Die hier angeffihrteJungfrau ist offenbar
eine Schwanjungfrau; die ihr Schwanhemd abgelegt (sanz guimple), um in der Quelle
zu baden (vgl. J. Grimm, deutsche Mythologie, S. 241)." See Kleinere Schriftenvon
Ferdinand Wolf, ed., E. Stengel, Marburg, 1890, p. 128, n. 1. Stengel reprints Wolf's
review as it appeared in the Jahrbiucher fi4r wissenschaftlicheKritik, Berlin, 1837, Bd. II,
Sp. 139-58. It may be suggested that the unnecessary display of the fee's person in
Lanval (en sa chemise senglement . . . . tut ot descovert le cost8, le vis, le col e la
peitrine), is also a reminiscence of an earlier bathing scene.
619
36 ToM PEETE CROSS
THE GES
One day, when he was alone in his house, there entereda stately
(Harl: young) woman, who behaved as though she had been there
before. She prepared excellent food,' and that night slept with
Crunniuc. The woman was pleased with her lover. Long she
remainedwith him, and thanks to her he prosperedgreatly. Her
name is Macha. One day Crunniucpreparedto attend one of the
great periodical festivalsof the Ulstermenat Emain Macha, the
capital of the kingdom. "It behoovesyou," said the womanto him,
"not to be overweeningand say an imprudentthing." (Harl: "You
must not go . . . . that you may not run into danger of speaking
of us, forour unionwill last only as long as you do not speak of me
in the assembly.") "That shall not occur,"said he; and so he went.
At the fair the king's horseswin the race. [Then bards came to
praise the king and the queen and the poets and the Druids, the
household,thepeople and the wholeassembly]. The people crythat
the king's horses are the swiftestin Ireland, but Crunniuc main-
tains that his wifeis swifterthan they. At the king's commandhe
is seized and threatenedwithdeath unlesshe can provehis assertion.
The woman is informedof her lover's strait,and, thoughfar gonein
pregnancy,comes to his assistance. The king,brutallyunmindful
ofhercondition,forcesherto runthe race. She succeedsin winning,
but at the end of the courseshe is taken withbirthpangs and brings
forthtwins (Emain, Emuin).2 Her dying cry causes all who hear
her to sufferthe weaknessof a woman in childbedforfourdays and
five nights-a formof debilitywhich returnsupon the Ulstermen
periodicallyfor nine generations. "Hence is the debility of the
Ulstermen(Noinden Ulad), and Emuin Macha (Macha's twins)."3
In the Noinden Ulad an early Celtic version of the Offended
Fge has been utilizedto explain on the basis of popular etymology
I In an Ojibway tale referredto by Andrew Lang (Custom and Myth,p. 79), a beaver
appears to an Indian in the form of a woman, becomes his mistress, and sets his wigwam
in order. For similar cases, see MacCulloch, Childhood of Fiction, p. 261 and note.
2 In a Welsh tale translated by Rhys (Y Cymmrodor,V, 86 ff.), a mermaid married
to a mortal gives birth to five sets of twins. On the disfavor with which twins are
regarded among savage peoples, see Lubbock, Origins of Civilization, 1870, pp. 20 ff.;
Crawley, op. cit., pp. 386 f.; J. A. Tillinghast, Publs. Amer. Economic Assn., 3d ser.,
III (1902), No. 2, p. 66. During the Middle Ages the mother of twins was generally
suspected of being an adulteress. For many instances, see Koehler in Warnke, Die
Lais, Introd., pp. xci ff.
3 Attention was called to this story in connection with Lanval and Graelent
by Pro-
fessor Schofield, Pub. Mod. Lang. Assn., XV, 165 ff. See also Brown, Iwain, A Study,
pp. 31 ff.
624
CELTIC ELEMENTS IN "LANVAL" AND "GRAELENT" 41
1 Recorded in Folk and Hero Tales (Argyllshire Ser., II), ed. MacInnes & Nutt,
London, 1890, pp. 207 fr.
2 Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, pp. 127 ff.
626
CELTIC ELEMENTSIN "LANVAL" AND " GRAELENT" 43
1R.C., XV, 295 f. According to a variant account given in the Orcuin Neill Noigial-
laig, the king was slain "among the bards of the Pict-%olkas he was exhibiting his shape
to them" (Otia Merseiana, II, Liverpool, 1900, pp. 84 ff.). Cf. Bibliog., p. 110.
2 Ir. T., II, 1 (1884), pp. 17 f., 81.
3 The exposure of the person for the purpose of inspiring other emotions is also
referred to in Celtic literature. When the youthful Cuchulainn returns in a berserk
rage from his firstmanly exploit, a hundred and fifty"bold, stark-naked women" are
sent to meet him "to show him all their nakedness and their shame." On seeing them
the boy hides his face, whereupon he is seized and plunged into vats of water until his
violence has passed (Ir.T., Extrab'd., p. 166). Compare the pagan Irish women who
expose themselves naked to drive away Christian monks in the Vita Sancti David, ed.
Rees, Lives of the Cambro-British Saints, Llandovery, 1853, p. 125; cf. Plummer, Vitae
Sanctorum Hiberniae I, clxvi. In the Chase of Sid na mBan Finn (R.I.A., Todd Lect.
Ser., XVI, 71), "fierce, stark-naked men" are sent against the stronghold of Finn and
his band. For possible Gaulish instances, see Caesar B.G., VII. 4; cf. Ir. T., Extrab'd.,
p. 166, n. 2; D'Arbois, La Civilis'n. des Celtes (Cours de litt. celt. VI), Paris, 1899, p.
321. See also the naked wild Irishman in George Borrow's Wild Wales, chap. xiv. See
furtherHerodotus, History, I, 8; John Gillies, Hist. of Anc. Greece,I, Dublin, 1786, p.
124, n. 96; Stokes, R.C., XVI, 308, note. Cf. Roman de ThBbes,vss. 939 ff.,quoted by
Professor Nitze (Mod. Philol., XI, 452, n. 1), who personally suggests that the Sparrow-
hawk Adventure in Erec et Enide may contain a reminiscence of a custom like that
preserved in the bench episode in Graelent. For various versions of the Sparrow-hawk
Adventure, see Mod. Philol., XI, 450, n. 1.
4 Leaving aside the perplexed question of the ultimate origin of the sentiment of
modesty, we should recall that among savage peoples the feeling about nudity and
clothing is toto coelo differentfrom ours. Cf. S. Reinach, Myths, Cults and Religions
(trans. E. Frost), pp. 177 f.
640
CELTIC ELEMENTS IN "LANVAL" AND "GRAELENT" 57
644